New Delhi, Apr 7 (ANI): Union Minister of Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge today said that human resources are undoubtedly the most powerful tools for the economic development and competitiveness of the country, and therefore India is giving great importance to build human resources by skilling them appropriately, especially to take advantage of demographic profile of the country.

Addressing the Swiss delegation headed by Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, Federal Councillor of Swiss Confederation here, Kharge said that due to fast adoption of new technologies by industries, it becomes challenging for the training system to keep pace in upgrading the skill levels of the workforce as per the need of world of work.

“Identifying the emerging skill areas, adopting the technologies in the curriculum and accordingly updating the knowledge and skill levels of trainers is a continuous process. Qualified trainers are the fundamental key to provide quality skill training to attain high standards in vocational competencies. Their training and retraining is critical element of any successful training system,” he added.

Kharge expressed happiness that Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SICC) with the support of OPET is implementing Vocational Education and Training pilot project based on the Swiss dual track vocational education and training system in state of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

He noted that initial results are very encouraging. This initiative will contribute to India’s future Industrial development in a Global Competitive Environment and it will also have a positive impact on Indo Swiss Trade relation.

” In addition it will enhance productivity and competitive capacity of both Swiss and Indian companies. This initiative strengthens existing bilateral relations between India and Switzerland and will offer the two countries the chance to explore new avenues of cooperation,” he said.

In his concluding remarks, Kharge said that it is government’s endeavor to improve our Vocational Training System by taking advantage of the experiences of Swiss VET system and this is right time to give further boost to this initiative by bringing more and more Swiss and Indian companies on board.

“Possibilities may be explored for establishing mutual recognition of vocational qualification of both the countries. Possibilities will also be explored for cooperation in trainers’ training opportunities,” he added. (ANI)